So here I am, an AG brewer, with no homebrew in his fridge save commercial beer whilst I make more. Oh the blasphemy! I know, I know, you can put me in the stockades later and pelt me with tomatoes.

So I say to myself, "Self, looks like you need to buy some beer." So I hop my happy tail in the van and get the usual suspects--Boston Lager and Guinness. But then I see Paulaner Premium Pilsner. I think "what the heck" and grab it too. Now mind you, it's been a LONG time since I drank a pilsner (Budvar circa 1994). As it pours I notice the pale straw color and I think "this is gonna be low on flavor like Buttwiper."

I was completely and utterly wrong. I never figured something that pale could be so malty. I deserve to be given 40 lashes on the altar of Gambrinus! Morale of the story: never judge a beer by it's SRM.

If you haven't tried it, give it a whirl. You'll be glad you did. Then chase it down with a couple of Paulaner Salvator Doppelbocks

It is always a refreshing surprise when you havn't had a German interpretation of the style for a while, they are generally maltier than the Czech counterparts. Love the crispness of an Urquel, though.

I had a great encounter with a domestic pils interpretation over Thanksgiving. I wis visiting Family up in Chicago and took full advantage of the beer variety they get there. I had a zwiekbier from New Glarus brewery out of Wisconsin. Zwiekbier is unfiltered, just slightly cloudy and straight from the lagering tanks. The bottled version didn't miss a beat, and tasted brewery fresh - you could close your eyes and imagine you wer sampling from the lagering tank.

The only problem with a local craft brewer is when you're not local and can't get your hands on their beers. This is from their website at newglarusbrewing.com:

"New Glarus beer is available throughout Wisconsin. Sorry about the limited distribution, non-Wisconsinites. There are only so many hours in the day to make beer and we can only keep up with the local demand. We'd love it if you'd stop by, though."

There is at least some penetration into the Chicago market, which is the only reason I know of these beers. Wish I had one now...

I love German beer. The Moravian Pilsner malt is the Maltiest(If thats a word) light malt you will find. If you want a light beer search this one out. If you like it a little darker go 50/50 with some Munic Malt. You can go upwards from there. I personally like to mix the maltiness of the german malt with the english/irish Fruggles and our versin of the same in the Willamette. Anyway, Happy Brewing and Merry Christmas.